Southern California has at times played a prominent role regarding immigration and border security. These include Proposition 187 in 1994, which sought to deny public services to unauthorized immigrants, and the federal government’s Operation Gatekeeper, which reinforced the California section of the U.S.-Mexico border during President Bill Clinton’s administration.

Local law-enforcement agencies across San Diego County were early adopters of Secure Communities, a federal program where officers run background checks on people they arrest to find unauthorized immigrants.

Among the new coalition’s guiding principles is a commitment to strengthening border security by “investing in smarter borders,” with emphasis on infrastructure investments at ports of entry to better manage travel and commerce and detect unlawful activity.

Endorsing the group’s approach, San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said despite drug-gang violence in Mexico, crime rates in San Diego County are near a 30-year low.

“Depending on an air-tight border is just unrealistic,” Gore said. The border “is more secure than it’s been in the last 40 years.”

San Diegans United’s other public-safety members include San Diego Police Department Chief William Lansdowne and Chula Vista Police Department Chief David Bejarano.

Wednesday’s news conference included a personal appeal by Pedro Aguilar, 23, a civil engineering student at San Diego State University. Aguilar said he moved to the United States with his family at age 1 and grew up in City Heights. He said he has declined a scholarship and turned down jobs because of his unauthorized status.

Aguilar has registered for a two-year waiver from deportation and a work permit under the Department of Homeland Security’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which was put in place last August.

“I’ve always considered myself an American even though I was told I am not,” said Aguilar, in what he called his first public appearance about his immigration status. “I’ve become a little jaded over the past couple of decades, but I believe (reform) will happen soon.”

Those expectations may run into resistance from people who believe that any pathway to U.S. citizenship for the unauthorized would create a bigger burden on government services and undermine law-abiding Americans’ search for employment in a still-fragile economy.

Ted Hilton of Pacific Beach, chairman of the Taxpayer Revolution Committee, said San Diegans United is “just not addressing what’s going on in society.”

Nunez, the former U.S. attorney, said the coalition appears tailored to special interests.

“The Qualcomms of this world ... it’s easy for them to join the pro-amnesty crowd so that they can get some kind of expanded guest-worker program,” he said.

For Juan Daniel Espitia, a native of Mexico and pastor at Solana Beach Presbyterian Church, the birth of the coalition has revived his hopes for bringing about substantive change to the federal immigration system.

He said 64 members of his church — more than one-third of his Spanish-speaking congregation — have been deported or left town over deportation concerns in the past four years.

“This kind of coalition, at this level, is a dream come true,” he said. “Finally we can see the wheels turning.”